Seven Problems
by Marka.Carbondale
Summary: [RoyEd] When Roy searches for Edward when he is late to his office, he finds that he has become younger. Possibly Roy x Edward... but most definitely implied. Not going to continue. Earlier stuff, not recommended by author.
1. Seven

Disclaimer: I promise, that if I ever own **Fullmetal Alchemist,** I'll tell you.

**Seven Problems**

By Cho (legasp, really?)

Roy Mustang slammed the phone down on its receiver. It had been the sixth time he had called Edward Elric. He had been due at the HQ at seven, and here it was 15 until noon. He had become to bored that he had actually resorted to doing his paperwork. It being finished, he stood up, scooting his chair back so fast in anger that it tipped over. He left his office without so much as a good-bye and walked fast down the sidewalk, engulfed in anger.

He arrived at the Fullmetal Alchemist's apartment and knocked on the door loudly. He repetitively knocked on it until he finally reached for his own key, sticking it in the lock and opening it. He ventured down the hallway and into the familiar bedroom, where he saw that the lights were off, the bed's covers where a mess, and a large lump sat in the middle of them.

"Edward!" Roy yelled sharply; the lump jolted. "Get up! It's noon!"

"Go away," the lump shouted, the voice sounded rather high, "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers!"

"…Strangers?" Roy raised his right eyebrow, "Edward, are you okay?"

He heard a light scratching against the headboard, and a small light emitted from it. Sure enough, a small, weak-looking, wooden spike came whizzing towards Roy. He easily dodged it and walked toward the bed.

"Edward," He reached for the covers, "Quit acting like a child. What's wrong with—" He was cut off when he was met with the sight of a tiny, short haired boy who looked to be about seven. His hair was the same golden blonde as Edward's, but he had two automail limbs that looked far to large for him. Was this… Edward? In any case, he needed to get this boy checked out, so thinking in child terms, (which was quite difficult for the 'anti-child' mind of Roy Mustang), he thought of a way to coax the child.

"Er… young man, you must be hungry." He forced a smile, "I'm only here to help." He paused to think. "Didn't your mother tell you it was okay to talk to police officers? Well, I'm like a police officer… but I use alchemy!" He tried to make it sound exciting.

The boy sniffed and rolled over; unmistakable golden eyes looked into Roy's black eyes.

"Edward…" Roy whispered under a gasp.

"Sir… I," he whimpered, "I dunno why I'm here or where and why my arms are gone… or… or anything." He was on the verge of tears, and sniffled again to try to keep them in.

"Come with me, son. I'll get you something to eat and we'll get you back to normal—er, get your safe."

The boy tried to stand, but couldn't on the uneven legs, and wobbled until he tipped over. Roy grabbed him and held him up in his arms, letting him nuzzle sleepily into his neck. This was an Edward he had never known: a sniveling, normal boy who had known no troubles. Leaving the apartment, Roy headed straight for Central Headquarters. wishing that he had taken his car.

"Sir?" Lt. Hawkeye watched questionably as her superior rushed in with a sleeping child on his shoulder. He laid the boy down on the couch that was in his office, letting him curl up. The clothes he was wearing were obviously too big and looked like they belonged to Edward.

"Lieutenant, I have reason to believe that this young boy is Edward Elric. I need to call this number and have Ms. Rockbell come to Central; I need her to bring some pictures of Edward as a child, as well." He tossed her a small crumpled ball of paper and watched her salute before leaving the room. He turned to the child, who was soundly sleeping with his real thumb stuck in his mouth. He smiled weakly at the child and walked to his dsk. Not sure how to tend to the boy, he waited impatiently at his desk. Sighing deeply, the door opened a few short minutes later, and the blonde Riza Hawkeye slipped in silently, walking to the side of Mustang's desk.

"Sir, I called Ms. Winry; she will be here in about three hours."

"Alright."

"Now, sir, about this child…?"

"Well, I'm not completely sure," He said. I've never actually seen the kid this young, he thought, "… but his features are remarkably like Edwards's, and coincidentally, Fullmetal has gone missing.

"Also, look at his limbs." He kneeled down and lifted the automail arm gently. "These are automail, and they're far too big for him."

She examined the boy as well, and any surprise she might have experienced was contained easily. She stood back from where she was leaning down. "An excellent point, sir."

"Well," he stood back up and stretched, "I guess we'll just have to wait until he decides to wake up. In the mean time, we need to get a professional in here; a professional in both investigations **and** children."

He quickly walked out of the room and down the hall. Seeing that he was heading for a particular room, the 2nd Lt. couldn't help but wonder who he was getting.

**Okay, so this is going to be my new story. I really liked this idea for some reason… (plus, Edward is adorable when he's little.) The name isn't final, I just thought of something that would work… ok… see ya!**

**-Cho**


	2. Help

**Help**

**o.o**

Winry ran into the Central office. The message she had received from The 2nd Lieutenant sounded rushed and urgent, and she had used the word 'emergency' and 'Edward,' and she thought to have heard the word, 'automail.' She rushed in, knowing that these three words in combination could NOT be good.

Earlier, in the hallways of Central, Roy rushed around to try to find a person to help him with the young boy that was sleeping in his office. Thinking over this thought, he realized that it should never be said aloud, as it would probably lead to him going to jail. Spotting the office that he was looking for, the golden plate had a name etched into it, "Maes Hughes."

Knowing that Maes was what Mustang called, "An idiot obsessed with the child that spewed all over his paperwork the first time he had met her and the wife who created the devil child," he knew that he would have no problem with the child who had appeared in Edward's apartment, him being an investigator for the military was just a handy side fact.

Opening the door without even thinking of knocking, he was met with the sight of Hughes sleeping heavily atop his desk. He groaned, yelling sharply, "MAES!"

Hughes lifted his head quickly, but upon seeing his best friend yelling at him, instead of a superior, (even though Mustang _was_ his superior), he lay his head back down on the surface where it had been before and attempted at going back to sleep.

"No way! Get up, you lazy piece of shit!"

Keeping his head on the table with his eyes closed, he mumbled, "I see that you're in a fantastic mood today, Roy."

"Get up!" Roy screamed at the Lt. Colonel, "I need your help!"

Hughes slowly and lazily lifted his head, "What _kind _of help?"

"The kind that only an idiot like you could manage," Roy lowered his voice, "Now get up!"

"Fine, fine," He mumbled. He slowly pushed himself off the table and approached Roy. "But before I go, you need to tell me what the hell is going on."

Roy explained to him how he went to Edward's apartment after he had been late to his office for a report that he was supposed to give, at this point, Maes interrupted, asking why Roy hadn't spent the night at Edward's. Roy promptly smacked his friend and continued his story by telling him that he had found the young boy, who had the striking resemblance to Edward Elric, and brought him back to Central, where he lay in his office. Leaving no detail out, the story took him about thirty minutes, where, by the end of it, Maes was leaning back in his chair. After hearing it, he remained silent, possibly drinking in the impossible sounding story.

Eventually, after Maes had questioned Roy further, leaving the two distressed, Roy stood up.

"Now, after having story time, and playing 20 Questions, would you _please_ help me?"

"Hmm… I don't know," Maes smirked, dodging an open hand heading for his face.

"Come _on_." Roy quickly walked from the office, hearing footsteps behind him that soon synchronized with his own.

------

When they reached Roy's office, the young boy was still sleeping, and Hawkeye had disappeared from the room. Hughes eyes strayed to the boy sleeping soundly on the couch.

"Is that him?" Hughes inquired.

Roy lazily took a seat behind his desk. "No, Maes, I like to drag random children into my office for naps."

"Well, you don't seem to mind dragging _Edward_—"

"Shut _up_," Roy groaned, but then smirked, "Besides, I don't drag Edward anywhere…"

Hughes smiled, "So, how do you know if it's him?"

"Well, I don't actually _know_." He glanced at the alleged-Edward, "But, he does look a lot like him,"

"Well, that doesn't mean anything, I mean, for all you know, he could be a lost sibling, or even completely unrelated. He could have seen Edward's door or window or something open and though that it was a warm place to live and slept."

"But what about Edward's being missing," Roy asked, "And the automail limbs?"

"Well, Edward, being spontaneous," Hughes answered, "May have decided to leave his house for a quick walk or something, leaving his door unlocked, and upon returning, when he found that his door was locked and shut, and he had no way of getting in, may have found an alternate living situation."

"But, surely," Roy assured his friend, "he would have called." He wasn't sure if he was assuring Hughes or not, though, rather than himself. He almost felt hurt, "Called me."

"Well, that much is unknown. Do you have any pictures of the young Elric?"

"Well," Roy went on, "I am having his automail mechanic bring them in, and also to take the automail off and possible exchange it for a smaller set."

"Won't that be painful for him?"

"Well, I am trying to think of one thing at a time, and it's usually best to leave the profession to the professionals. Miss Rockbell happens to be just that."

"Does his brother know?"

"Oh…" Roy thought, "I haven't actually spoken to the youngest Elric since he has gotten his body back, but I believe he lives in the same apartment complex as Edward."

"Well, we need to see if the same thing has happened to him, whether it was Edward being an idiot with alchemy…" he thought about that, "…again, or if it was something that involved both of them. If we have two of them, it might help us to learn more about it."

"I'll call him." Roy pushed himself out of the chair and walked down the hallway to the set of phones that were for military members only, picking one up off of it's receiver and dialing in the phone number for Alphonse Elric.

"Hello?" The young boy's voice came from the receiver.

"Alphonse Elric?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"Well, Alphonse, this is Colonel Roy Mustan--"

"Is something wrong with Ed?"

"Well, if you would let me finish, I need you to come down to the HQ and help me."

"With what?"

"Well, let's just say that you aren't completely unrelated."

"Er— okay. Goodbye, Colonel."

"Goodbye, Alphonse."

He placed the phone back on its receiver calmly, regaining his sanity and turning on his heels to head back down the hallway.

He reentered his office to see that the young boy was sitting up and talking to Maes. When he entered, he heard that the conversation was only just starting.

"Alright, I'm only here to help, and I'm sure you'd want to know what's going on, right, young man?"

The boy nodded shyly.

"And so you can help_ me_ I need you to tell me your name."

He whispered low and no one could hear him.

"Now come on, young man, I know you can be rowdy. Just speak up for me."

"Well, sir, my name is Edward. Edward Elric."

Roy flashed a smirk at Hughes that clearly read, "Hah-I-knew-it."

"Alright, now, I need you to tell me everything you remember from right before I began talking to you, okay. I need you to tell me so I can help you remember anything you might have forgotten."

"Well, that guy," he pointed at Roy, and Roy kind of twitched at the 'that guy,' "He showed up at the bed I was in and I told him some stuff and he brought me here and I fell asleep 'cause I was real tired."

"Okay," Hughes was writing these notes down on a pad of paper, "And what did you talk about?"  
"Well, I told him that I didn't know where I was, or what was with this automail." He looked up at Hughes, "You see, I have this friend, sir, that has a gram'ma who makes automail for a living and that's why I know."

"That's very good," He smiled, "And can you tell me your friend's name?"

"Well, they're Winry and her gram'ma is Pinako."

"Good, very good." Hughes mumbled, writing something down, "What do you remember from before you woke up to Mustang?"

"I just remember wakin' up in the middle of the night in this room and I didn't know where I was and my leg was gone and my arm was gone," he started sniffling and his eyes welled up with tears, "And my clothes were really big and I didn't know what was wrong!"

Hughes smiled and hugged the boy, "It's alright son."

"So, now, can we keep going?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, now—"

But he didn't get to finish his sentence when the sound of a red box of tools hitting the ground in front of Roy Mustang's office interrupted him, followed by a woman's shriek, "EDWARD! What happened?"

Three heads turned slowly from where they were originally to the girl standing the doorway in a cream colored tank top and a black skirt. Winry had a look on her face as though she had seen a ghost, and perhaps, she had.

_Alright, before you complain, I would like you to know that I **know **that Mustang was transferred to Central **after** the –sniff sniff- death of Maes Hughes, but it was vital that they were in the same building to make the story work. I also know that the conversations all put together would last less than three hours, but time is relative anyway, so shut up. I also, for all intensive purposes, have made Alphonse normal, because that's fun anyway. Now, another fun thing I will do on this Christmas Eve morning ( 2AM) is update Hagane no OneShotness or perhaps Sinister. Why? Because I'm in that jolly Christmas mood. Now, to accompany that Christmas mood, I will answer the 8 reviews that I received._

_**Aemi-Kaishima **– Gash! Aemi, reading my fics? What a surprise. Yes, Roy, please don't talk to strangers, because they might be fangirls, and I'm your girl, so don't be flirtin' or I'll beat 'choo up!_

_**Serina Kat **– Maes never died, don't be silly._

_**Wolf00rakuen **– My sons (Edward and Alphonse) are adorable. All the time. The end._

_**Kara **– Get on IM! Gah! Well, your MPREG is gangsta, thought I'd just tell you that. Sorry, but Aru won't be all wittle, it would make it hard do that with the storyline I'm doing… so… yeah._

_**Fobroks21 **– No, the bunnies haven't gotten me… yet. Yes, we all love Hughes, so he must be included._

_**Tokyokitty15 **– Thanks!_

_**Fma-fan158 **– Well, looks like your hopes came true._

_**Penguin person with long name **– Yeah, I've never been much of a speller, even with the wonder of spell check. Oh well. Everyone loves lil Edward… except for maybe Roy, who enjoys the advantages of having the older Elric to… play with, if you catch my drift. If not, then don't listen to me._

_I love you all, and by the way, I **had** thought of putting in Hughes before you all told me. I thought I'd tell you that little tidbit. Same thing with Aru._

_Ok._

_I promise I'm done._

_Really._

_**Really **really._

_REALLY_

_Kthanx,_

_Chojikai_


	3. Remember

**Remember**

"Edward! What happened!" Winry's mouth was curved into an 'O' shape and her eyes were wide with surprise. Edward looked up innocently, but this his eyebrows jumped and his jaw dropped. "Winry? Is that you!"

Roy groaned, "Aw…"

"…shit." Hughes finished with him.

To make matters worse, Alphonse's brunette head popped in behind Winry's and said, "What happened!"

"Wait… why is everyone older," He choked back tears, sniffling, "Is there something wrong with me?"

Roy rushed to the door pushing the two out to the hallway. "Okay," He said when they were out. "I can see that we aren't going to need the pictures."

"What's wrong with my brother? Why is he younger?"

Ignoring the brunette alchemist, he turned to Winry, "Did you bring any extra parts?"

She nodded, pulling the grey rectangular bag off of her back. Putting it on the ground, she unclasped the two locks and revealed a set of artificial limbs that looked to be an easier-made set than the automail that Edward wore. She pulled out a small arm and leg, unfolded them and put it on the ground.

"Now," she said, standing up and putting her hands on her hips, "Will you _please _explain to me what's going on?"

"Well," he began, "This morning I found this younger Edward in his apartment and brought him here. Lt. Colonel Hughes is talking to him, and most likely calming him down after you decided to burst in."

"Why is Mr. Hughes talking to him, shouldn't _you_ be talking to him?"

"Well, Miss Rockbell, as I explained to the Lt. Colonel before, you should leave the profession to the professionals. Hughes happens to be a professional in investigations, not to mention a child freak, therefore-"

"Okay," Alphonse cut in, "We get it."

Footsteps approached the door and Maes appeared in the doorway. "Roy, I need you to help me with something."

"Uh," Roy arched his eyebrow, "Alright."

Entering the office that belonged to the said alchemist, Roy saw the boy tapping his feet carelessly against the coffee table; his eyes were a bit puffy and red. He whispered to Hughes, "Is he alright now?"

"To my knowledge," He shrugged his shoulders and sat down at the chair across from Edward. "Now son," he said, turning his attention to the young blonde. He tugged Roy's sleeve down until he sat in the chair next to himself. "Do you know who this man is?"

Roy was taken aback; this was a question he himself had wanted to ask, but, even now, was still afraid of what the answer might be. He saw Edward's face twist into a thinking phase and he scooted on the edge of the couch. After several minutes of waiting, Edward opened his mouth to speak.

"Well, Mr. Hughes, I think…" Roy held his breath as he trailed off, "…I think so. It seems like he was once… once real important to me. But I just can't remember."

Roy expelled a breath of relief. So, it was possible… possible that he remembered everything, and it was possible that one day, he would remember everything.

"Good, very good."

Winry cracked the door open and Roy thought of something he could do to get her in here without Edward getting freaked out again. Then, he had an idea. "Julia," he winked at her, "Get over here"

Puzzled, she walked over anyway, "Er, alright?"

"Alright, if you could take measurements for a new leg and give Edward here a temporary one," he pulled her arm down and pulled her ear to his mouth, "We can't let him know you're Winry, not yet."

She nodded curtly and walked up to Edward as he said, "But, mister, this is Winry!"

"No, Edward," she said, "I'm, er, Winry's cousin. Julia."

"I didn't know Winry had a cousin."

"Well, that's me!"

She carefully unattached the automail limbs that were too big and clamped the smaller one to his leg and arm.

"Stand up." She smiled, "Is that better?"

He pushed off the couch and was still a little wobbly, but was closer to normal. He nodded shortly and balanced himself out. He grinned really big, but when he started to walk he tripped over his pants that were too long and fell right into Winry's arms. "Heh, sorry," he giggled.

She pushed him back up and mussed his hair, smiling at him. "No problem."

"Well, Hughes, have you gotten enough information," Roy inquired.

"I suppose." He stood up and heaved a sigh.

"Alright," Roy thought for a moment, "Then I need to get him some clothes. I'll have to go to my place to get some money, and then we'll go out and get him some clothes that fit."

"Um…" Winry said, turning to leave, "…alright." She sounded nervous. It was probably because her best friend who was now at least 7 years old was going off clothes shopping with his boyfriend who he had just been with the night before last when was normal. Of course, she told herself, it was not a real problem. "I need to work on this automail. The leg should be done by midday tomorrow, and the arm by the next morning."

"Spectacular," Roy said, forcing a smile. The idea of having a child of seven crying from the pain of automail made his insides crawl. "Well, Edward," He smiled at the small boy, "Are you ready to go."

He grinned mischievously, "Uh-huh."

_Not much to say. I didn't get enough reviews to reply to them, and plus, I'm too lazy, so yeah…_

_Hope you liked this chapter. The next one will be real interesting, I promise._


End file.
